caa a22 4500 605527199 CHVBK 20210128100807.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150301xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10531-014-0826-z doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10531-014-0826-z Estimates and correlates of bird and bat mortality at small wind turbine sites [Elektronische Daten] [Jeroen Minderman, Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, James Pearce-Higgins, Chris Pendlebury, Kirsty Park] Small wind turbines (SWTs) are an increasingly popular means to generate renewable energy worldwide. Flexibility in size and design allow SWTs to be installed in a much wider range of settings compared to large wind turbines. While large wind turbines can cause substantial mortality of birds and bats, the extent and correlates of such collision mortality at SWTs have not been quantified. Thus, siting decisions for SWTs are currently made with considerable uncertainty of their impact on wildlife. We combined field data and questionnaire surveys of SWT owners to assess the range and correlates of bird and bat mortality at SWT sites (mean hub height 10.2m [range 4.0-26.4m], mean rotor diameter 4.0m [range 0.9-15.0m], for both free-standing and building mounted turbines). During 171 carcass searches at 21 UK SWT sites we did not find any collision casualties. Thirty-one (14.6%) of 212 SWT owners reported bird casualties of at least 12 species groups and 3 (1.4%) reported bat casualties (unidentified species). Based on the questionnaire returns and using a model that accounts for detectability of casualties (through variation in visit frequency, searcher efficiency and average levels of scavenger removal) we estimated that between 0.079 and 0.278 birds, and between 0.008 and 0.169 bats may be killed turbine−1 year−1, equating to 1,567-5,510 birds and 161-3,363 bats year−1 in the UK based on recent estimates of numbers of units installed. Sites with higher levels of bird activity tended to be more likely to report bird casualties. Systematically derived likely ranges of mortality as provided here are urgently needed to inform future SWT planning policy. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2014 Collision mortality nationallicence Conservation nationallicence Domestic wind turbines nationallicence Microturbines nationallicence Renewable energy nationallicence Questionnaire nationallicence Minderman Jeroen Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut Fuentes-Montemayor Elisa Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut Pearce-Higgins James British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, IP24 2PU, Thetford, UK aut Pendlebury Chris Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut Park Kirsty Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/3(2015-03-01), 467-482 0960-3115 24:3<467 2015 24 10531 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0826-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0826-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Minderman Jeroen Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Fuentes-Montemayor Elisa Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pearce-Higgins James British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, IP24 2PU, Thetford, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pendlebury Chris Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Park Kirsty Biological & Environmental Sciences School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA, Stirling, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Biodiversity and Conservation Springer Netherlands 24/3(2015-03-01), 467-482 0960-3115 24:3<467 2015 24 10531